After talks between nine EU Social Democratic leaders in Paris, French President Francois Hollande said they were supporting Juncker, cementing his spot as the frontrunner to replace Jose Manuel Barroso as European Commission head.
Hollande said the leaders would "respect" the tradition that the largest grouping in the European Parliament nominates a candidate to head the commission, "in this case Mr. Juncker".
Juncker has been put forward by the centre-right European People's Party, which won the most seats in a European Parliament vote last month that also saw strong gains for anti-EU parties.
Moves to hand the post of EC chief to Juncker -- a long-serving Luxembourg premier and EU insider -- have triggered the most bitter dispute seen in Europe since the height of the euro crisis.
The row is set to dominate the two-day summit of all 28 EU leaders starting Thursday, with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron vowing to fight Juncker's appointment "until the end". The Local
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